Moldova’s president has appointed businessman and former minister Dorin Recean as the country’s prime minister-designate after the top government position was left vacant on Friday when Natalia Gavrilita unexpectedly resigned 18 months into the his mandate devastated by the crisis.
President Maia Sandu said at a news conference that members of the ruling Action and Solidarity Party, or PAS, had accepted her choice of Recean as the new prime minister.
“I know we need unity and a lot of work to get through the difficult period we are facing. The difficulties of 2022 have postponed some of our plans, but they have not stopped us,” Sandu said, adding that in 2023 he wants to focus on the renewal of key areas such as Moldova’s economy and its judicial sector.
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Recean, a 48-year-old economist who was interior minister between 2012 and 2015, will have 15 days to form a new government to present to parliament for a vote.
Recean said he will “immediately proceed” with the creation of a new government and that his main objective will be to introduce “order and discipline” into Moldova’s institutions, breathe new life into the economy and ensure peace and stability.
Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita announces her resignation during a news conference in Chisinau, Moldova February 10, 2023. Moldova’s president has named Dorin Recean as the country’s next prime minister. (AP Photo/Aurel Obreja)
Following her resignation on Friday, Gavrilita, a 41-year-old economist who was appointed prime minister in August 2021, told a press conference that her government “would have been able to move forward more and faster” if it got the same support and trust at national level as it has from other European countries.
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Gavrilita’s premiership was marred by a long series of problems. These include an acute energy crisis after Moscow drastically cut supplies to Moldova and skyrocketing inflation in the wake of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Compounding this were the wartime missiles that swept the skies over Moldova.
He also said that nobody expected that his government “would have to handle so many crises caused by Russian aggression in Ukraine”.
“I took over the government with an anti-corruption, pro-development and pro-European mandate at a time when corruption schemes had captured all institutions and oligarchs felt untouchable,” said Gavrilita. “We were immediately faced with energy blackmail and those who did it hoped that we would give in.”
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“The wager of our country’s enemies was that we would act like previous governments, which renounced energy interests, which betrayed the national interest in exchange for short-term benefits,” he added.
Sandu on Friday thanked Gavrilita for his “enormous sacrifice and efforts to lead the country in a time of so many crises”.
